To Develop Cultural Dexterity, Seek It Out

Global organizations need leaders with cultural dexterity — the ability and know-how to make a sale in Seoul just as effectively as they host a meeting in Riyadh. In a military career that took me around the world — Afghanistan, Iraq, Korea, and Saudi Arabia — I learned that, when it comes to these skills, fortune favors the prepared.

Preparation starts, of course, with training in cross-cultural best practices, as well as more general “soft skills” like emotional intelligence and interpersonal communication, to help people become more aware of their own preferences and develop a sincere desire to learn more about others. For example, the Army has a Culture Center in Arizona, where experts in various parts of the world and varied subject matter stand by to educate and train military units preparing for deployment, so they’re better equipped to succeed in their missions.

At West Point, one negotiation training exercise is designed to replicate a Middle Eastern environment with native speakers of the languages of that region. Through interpreters, the cadets discuss various issues related to a village, careful to understand and acknowledge the other parties’ cultural norms. Private organizations have and should continue to use similar educational methods.

There’s no substitute for on-the-ground experience, however. Part of the military’s mandate is to send its people around the world, but those who become most adept at bridging diverse groups and geographies are the ones who make a point of doing so. They don’t just accept expat postings and global roles; they seek them out.

In one assignment, I was fortunate to become the general manager for a large military aviation organization based in South Korea — a role I was keen to take on because of the cross-cultural complexities. The organization consisted of U.S. and South Korean soldiers, and the senior leadership team also comprised people from both nations. Working alongside my Korean counterparts, I gained an invaluable understanding of what it takes to make katchi kapshida (Korean for “we go together!”) possible. I gained a far better understanding of the norms and practices of doing business in Asia than I could have in any other way.

The mistakes that I, and others, made — in spite of our training, experience and good intentions — were perhaps some of the most significant learning opportunities. For example, when U.S. military trainers sought to professionalize the Iraqi military, they encouraged the adoption of many long-standing American practices, such as officers eating after their troops to demonstrate servant leadership. Although the Iraqis expressed significant reservations about this, the trainers insisted. But it was not long before problems erupted: soldiers were talking back to officers and acting with less discipline. As one Iraqi officer explained: “In our culture and army, respect is conveyed by those with authority eating first. When you made us eat after the soldiers, they lost respect for us.” Clearly, our knowledge of Iraqi culture wasn’t quite deep enough; we learned that we needed to do a better job of listening to our counterparts’ concerns.

Growing up in central New Jersey, I never thought I’d have a career that sent me around the world and taught me to work effectively with people from any culture. But by choosing an organization that gave me the right training, seeking out the right experiences, and always being willing to learn from mistakes, I developed that dexterity.

Colonel Bernard Banks is the associate dean for Leadership Development at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He served in the U.S. Army for more than two decades, most recently as department head for Behavioral Sciences and Leadership at West Point. He has presented at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and consulted or provided training to companies including GE, IBM, Citigroup, Best Buy, and Procter & Gamble.